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Daily Wisdom

April 30, 2006

Looney Liberal of the Week: Chuck Schumer

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This week's award goes to Chuckie "Schmuckie" Schumer (D-NY). This week Schumer announced that the cause for the run up in gasoline prices was directly attributable to "Big Oil". Specifically, he said that there was a lack of competition, and implicitly he suggested that "a handful of giant oil companies" are manipulating prices.

Schumer's solution? ..."Get tough on big oil". Schumer said he plans to offer an amendment to the upcoming supplemental bill "that will require a complete examination as to whether or not we should break up the big oil companies". Of course! Why didn't we think of that before? Breaking up Ma Bell was such a wonderful example of how "Big Government" can help streamline our economy.

Now here is a man who apparently knows nothing about economics. Doesn't Schumer know that the price of gasoline is market-driven? Doesn't Schumer know that gasoline futures are traded on the NYMEX? Doesn't Schumer know that prices are essentially set by market traders who evaluate factors driving supply and demand? Does Schumer even know what "supply and demand" is? Has Schumer forgotten that in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina gasoline prices were just as high as they are today?

The following charts show the NYMEX gasoline futures and the actual retail cost of gasoline including all taxes. Notice any similarities for the period April 2005 through April 2006? Hmmmm. I wonder if there might be any relationship?

Come on, hawkeye®, you know that we should trust guys like Chuck to get these things corrected for us. I mean they do such a good job with everything else. Leave it all to Big Brother, the enemy of Big Oil, and all will be well. Heck, we can all use a "free" $300, right?.

I only buy as much motor fuel as I need, and I am not taking anytrips that I can't postpone or make the miles do double duty. Our motor fuel prices are a long ways behind the level that they would be if they were subject to the pressures of the inflation that has escalated the prices of everything else.` In 1937 my father worked in a sawmill for 26c an hour and gasoline was selling for 30c a gallon (actually 29.9c). Today minimum wages are $5.15 which is almost 21 times what the wages were in 1937. So Gas should be selling for 21 multiplied by 30c... or $6.30 agallon if it were to keep pace with wages.... coca cola was selling for 5c.... Today it is 50c... so gas should be selling for $3 a gallon by that yardstick... We are still getting a bargain at the gas pump as compared to wearing out our shoe soles to go places and do things away from home.

Chuckie says ," Hey,I got a idea , Let's take over the big nasty oil companies and put on a show!!!! We will give each American 1 share of the oil company to applaud us with. We in Congress will run the show. We do everything so darn good,and if anyone (like the Repugs ) get smart ,we'll say, "Nyah Nyah, No oil for YOU."

Camo,Yeah, the windfall profits tax was passed in 1980 during the Carter administration. My understanding is that production rates were reduced by 25% as a result, and nobody wanted to invest in oil companies... DUH.

by the way, not sure if you and fellow moronic friends realize this but Schumer is on your side. I don't think you or any of your conservative nutjob friends in this forum are racking up multi-million dollar annual paychecks, you might be financially better off if Congress gives less tax breaks to oil companies and takes that money to help pay for college tuition for your kids.

WCL,First of all, it's "Bible-toting" (not touting). Although "touting" works pretty well too.

Second, I'm not from Michigan. I don't know where you got that from. If you look at the clock in my sidebar, it says "Downtown, NJ".

Third, I'm sure that Schumer knows his economics... he's just too much of a partisan to admit it. He has no problem looking like a nitwit in the eyes of economists. His goal is not to talk sense, but to pander to the ignorant masses of "conspiracy theorists" that make up the liberal left Democratic base.

That's right. You heard me. Chuck Schumer would stoop so low as to pervert the truth for the sake of a lie if it brings him power. He is one of the lowest life forms on earth (lower than slugs) IMNSHO.

WCL,Schumer is on no one's side but his own (and the political party represented by a "donkey"). He has personally attacked my previous employer and forced them through the use of his bully pulpit to reduce or eliminate the profit they could make on an item that they sold to the government. This was on top of the fact that my employer was already selling the product to the government at a rate well below that which it is sold to the general public. He did so by threatening to seize the patent and giving it away to another company who might be able to make the same product for less. The other company never had to do any research and development or product testing, and therefore had no costs to recoup. So, Schumer has already taken money out of my pocket.

As far as the college education of my child, Schumer did nothing to help me out there. My daughter did more to help me out than Schumer ever could. She chose to go to an affordable State College and then got a scholarship for all of her room-and-board on top of that. She graduated 2 years ago. Her college tuition bills are all paid, and Schumer did nothing but take money out of my pocket using underhanded and reprehensible tactics. He's a jerk!

hahaha.. more examples of textbook conservative HYPOCRISY from you? Sure you rant and rave about Schumer playing politics about gas prices, but what about Bush ordering a probe on possible gouging? What about Frist and Hastert sending Bush a letter asking him to order the probe?? Maybe they had no problems looking like idiots in front of economists too???

I'm not surprised that some bible-TOUTING conservative is displaying first-class hypocrisy. That's prety much what you guys are all about anyways.

Satan could not have found better warriors to push HYPOCRISY onto American society.

WCL,FYI, I was not happy about GWB ordering an investigation of price-gouging. IMHO, there was no reason for doing so.

However, Bush had nothing to lose by ordering the investigation. I'm sure he was convinced that nothing would be found even remotely suggesting price-gouging. Several similar past investigations never found anything. OTOH, if he didn't order the investigation, and some evidence of gouging DID emerge, then he would look like he was protecting the "Big Oil" companies. So why not order an investigation.

Schumer OTOH made an allegation... a completely stupid and unrealistic allegation at that. And he should know better. But he's so partisan that he's willing to overlook economic facts if he can make political points. That's what makes him different from GWB.

Oh yeah, you were "not happy" about GWB conducting an investigation of possible price gouging but you felt it was appropriate to call out Schumer instead when both of them, and a ton of other Republicans including Frist and Hastert, were all SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING!!!

Why should GWB be afraid of any possible price gouging when according to Hawkeye, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have price gouging cos prices are fixed by the market???

Bush is not fit to lick Schumer's ass. Schumer never got convicted of DUI, never relied on his dad's buddies to fail in just every about business venture he was involved in and never raised 2 daughters that were convicted on underaged drinking. And oh yes, Schumer was never a cheerleader too.

WCL,Well if Frist and Hastert "accused" the oil companies were gouging, then they too are jerks. I repeat, there is a difference between calling for an investigation "to see" if there is gouging... and making an "accusation" that there IS gouging going on. Get it? One assumes innocence until proven guilty... the other assumes guilt until proven innocent. DUH!

And please refrain from discussing bodily parts. I don't want my readers to get nauseous over such mental pictures. Thank you. That is all.

Look peabrain, sure there is a diff between making an accusation and calling for an investigation. However, in the grand scheme of things, if one is so sure that there is no gouging going on, as it is in yr case, why is there a need to call for any kind of investigation???

It's like you find $20 missing from your wallet. 2 possibilities: you either dropped the $20 somewhere or your kid stole it. you see your kid coming home from school with a new toy. if you're absolutely sure that he bought it with his own pocket money, why is there a need to even question him on where he got the money to buy the toy???

look, it is clear that hypocrisy is not lacking in you but hey, what is new with Christian conservativs??

WCL,You are apparently so dull of mind that you forgot I already said there was no reason for an investigation, and that Bush only did it because he had nothing to lose. BTW, have you heard of any results from the investigation suggesting that there WAS price-gouging?... No, and you won't either. As for hypocrisy, there's plenty more of it found amongst LLLs than Conservatives.

oh wait, so you are in fact saying that Bush is only doing it to play politics and he's not doing it because he really believes it but he was going with the "cover your ass" theory.. i get it...

I've never said that there was price gouging among the oil companies. It's Hastert and Frist that suspect it. Oh wait, maybe they, like me, do not think that there is price gouging either but they simply asked for the investigation so that they can appear to be concerned about the problem.

As for hypocrisy, of course there are tons of it on both sides of political spectrum. But liberals do not hug the bible while they are displaying it whereas it is a sine qua non with conservatives. Conservatives do not think twice about wiping the good name of Jesus in the filthy pool of their hypocrisy.